[color=#e8ecff; font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px]I am planning on getting a new PC soon and I have my build already picked out. But I recently went on newegg notice Q8400 was only $7 more then the E8400 and I was wonder wat would be the better choice. I know the E8400 should out perform the Q8400 but wonder if overclocking capability of the Q8400 can change that. I am going to be using my new PC for Gaming for CSS, TF2, COD4 ...etc and some photoshoping, movie editing. Would the E8400 be better because performance now or in the future more games will be using 4 cores and be worth getting quad..??[/color]
Hmm, id sayread some reviews on the q8400.. I would suggest buying a quad, as more games uses 4 cores now.
Anyways.. I got the e8400, and it easily clocks to 4.0 ghz on air
i would go with the quad for photoshop and movie editing. however if you have photoshop cs4 and an nvidia gpu, its accelerated by the gpu and the cpu really doesnt play a big role. as for gaming, newer games like company of heroes, crysis, supreme commander, grand theft auto 4 all use 4 cores quite well, so even there id go with a quad.
Well it's not ike the dual cores can't video edit lol.
But the question is; is it a GOOD quad? considering it have same price as e8400, I don't think it's all that good. So for same price, e8400. higher price; quad.
Well, you if you don't have a Intel mobo alraedy, consider Phenom II. cause for the price of a E8400 and Q8400, any phenom II in the same price would hands down beat them. But If i had to pick, probably Q8400, also if u wanna stick intel, spend like 20 bucks or more for like a Q9400.
a q9550 is worth the extra 50 dollars over the q8400. also like 21DD23 was pointing out you should consider amd if you dont already have a motherboard. the phenom 2 920 costs less than the q8400.
Did some research for yah. Price off newegg.com
Q8400 - $175
E8400 - $168
Phenom II 940 BE - $175
Phenom II 720 BE - $120
Q9400 - $210 Q9550 - $220
Phenom II 955 BE - $215
Heres how the performance lines up, in about averaging from different tests.
Fastest to Last, Gaming
Q9550>=<955 BE>Q9400>=<940 BE>720 BE>E8400> Q8400.
The Q8400 is probably the last in terms of current gaming performance against the E8400, expect maybe a few games, but it is more future proof.
Out of all those CPU's, the best buy out of all of them.
Hands down AMD 720 BE, beats the E8400 in about every test, $48 cheaper, overclocks just as well; about 3.8Ghz.
Never mention Future Proof when talking about computer parts..
i'd suggest going with a 2.8ghz-3.0ghz quad. maybe this way, it'll put more time between now and your next upgrade.
but if the choices are limited to the q8400 and the e8400, i'd go with the e8400. it'll most probably work faster for the games you mentioned.
Gaming = Dual Core still.
E8400.
Phenom IIs or the Q9550 for Quad....other than that E8400 is Awesome!
OK well thanks everyone for their feedback. It has helped a lot I think I am going to going with a Q9400. I am on a budget and a Q9550 is just out of reach. I am just going to this put out there if anyone wants to go looking.  my CPU+mobo = $288 so if u can find a better set-up like AMD set-up or  something.. and  CPU+mobo+memory $338 right now I have DDR2 800 4Gb. So if someone wants to go looking have at it .. And thanks again everyone  this is why I 
 RTW. RTW FTW 
intel?
The set-up I already have picked my build is an intel build yes like I said I am getting a Q9400
[b]I don't agree with you on that point.. I would go for the quad.. because if you overclock the s**t out of this thing, you would be able to avoid some bottlenecks if you upgrade to a faster gpu..Â
You should also have in mind that the quad has 2mb less cache mem vs. the E8400.
/offtopic: Personally i would go for the Q9550 beacause it has 3 times the ammount of cache (12mb for dummies) contra the Q8400.
-Alex[/b]
[color=#ff0000]"[b]because if you overclock the s**t out of this thing"
- Thats where the quads just can't stand up against c2d.. Especially e8400 and e8500.. They go 4.0 ghz EASY on air.[/color][/b]
Well like I said before I am going get a Q9400 when I order my PC and  FYI on GPU I am getting HD4870.
Q8400 = Fututre Proof so far!
E8400 = Is starting to get used by games and other programmes!
:)
Well the quad still has more processing power even with the E8400 being a overclocking beast. I think about multithreaded apps.. and games are pointing in that direction.
And by saying "the s**t out of things"Â I meant to the limit's of the cpu..
most if not all the games he mentioned only would be capable of using only 2 cores.
but for video editing there will be a massive difference in rendering times when it comes to the quads.